RED weight on steadicam

[Jayson Wilkins]

Any experienced ops out there flying RED One on the Steadicam? What is the average weight of the RED build? I'm trying to determine what model Steadicam to invest in. I can't afford a top rig but would like to be able to fly about 30 to 35 lbs as necessary.

[John atkinson]

Any experienced ops out there flying RED One on the Steadicam? What is the average weight of the RED build? I'm trying to determine what model Steadicam to invest in. I can't afford a top rig but would like to be able to fly about 30 to 35 lbs as necessary.

 

 

Red says the One weighs 10lbs. That's stripped. Weight is contingent on Lens selection, mattebox, plate, bracketry, battery, drive mount, digital tape measure, etc. Every time I have flown it, it almost maxed out my rig. 35lbs capacity probably won't do it.

 

John A

[Stefano Ben]

Hi Jayson!

 

A Complete RED ONE with mattebox, lens, motor focus, 4 rods, downconverter, battery, Hard Drive, On-board RED Monitor, can weight until 35 lbs.

 

But, if you want fly with "only" the RED Body, also a Tiffen Flyer it's good for you!

 

Cheers, Steve.

[William Demeritt]

I've flown the RED on an Archer2 many times, and I'd say RED has a nice "Steadicam mode" if you have the right accessories:

 

- clip-on matte box

- power off your sled

- remove the RED baseplate, use the top brackets for iris rod support

- shoot to CF cards, or get an ET shock mount to clip onto the iris rod and mount the RED drive flat on top of the camera

- screw your dovetail directly to the RED body base

 

Every time I've used this configuration, I've flown quite safely on the G-40 arm.

 

If you were OK with having 30lbs as max payload, I'd say check out the Archer2 with the G-50 arm. Or, wait for more information about the new Phantom.

 

Also, I hear Robert Starling is selling his Clipper 24 in the Steadicam Marketplace, you may want to check that out.

http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=11729

[Charles Papert]

As William makes clear, a "power user" flying RED will either own or know how to order the configuration that will make it more Steadicam-friendly. Most privately owned RED's won't come with many of these possibilities, so if you are flying it a lot, you have to invest in things like clip-on matteboxes, power cable etc. that will allow you to shed a lot of weight. The lightest I ever got it was 19 lbs and that was with the 18-50 zoom, two motors, hard drive (they insisted), clockit and Camwave transmitter--quite a lot of functional accessories, but not one piece of RED bracketry on the camera. Show up on a given shoot unprepared, and you'll be flying a 35 lb setup, without doubt.

[Kevin Packer]

I've flown the Red quite a bit with my Provid2 arm which has a payload of around 28lbs.

The biggest thing for me and is the first thing I ask is if it's privately own or not.

If it is I have to shoot on CF cards cause the big red battery/hard drive mount is too heavy.

If the camera is from PS I can use the hard drive cause they have really nice third party brackets that shed so much weight.

I always power from the sled, which some times scares me cause the red doesn't give a readout on how much power is left, but I've figured out right before a take I'll tell the 1st to turn the bartech back and fourth and if I'm really low usually the red lcd will cut in and out when the motor sucks some power and then I'll just hot-swap some batteries so I don't have to power down. I have gone down while recording (only with cards) and there was never an issue with losing footage.

 

I did a job recently with the red primes, which I thought were quite massive, recording to cards and a clip on matte box and it was over the payload just a bit. I'm thinking of getting some carbon rods and a hard drive mount like PS's so if it is a private camera I can still run the hard drive.

 

As long as you know the configurations your rig can handle you just need to make sure you tell the suits that up front so there's no surprises on the day.